MGMT621 - Management of Change

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

Teaching organisation

150 hours over a twelve-week semester or equivalent study period

Unit rationale, description and aim

Change is a reality that managers face in all contemporary organisations. Understanding the complexities of the process and nature of such change requires rigorous analysis and synthesis of multiple sources of information. If students are to be able to do this, they will need to understand the strategic role and drivers of change in organisations. In this unit, students will develop their knowledge of strategies, theories and practices of organisational change. Students will apply their knowledge of change models, change diagnosis, change leadership and change interventions to the design of socially, environmentally, economically and responsible strategies for organisations in transition. Students will develop their skills in the analysis, development, leadership, implementation and evaluation of change strategies for organisations experiencing the challenge of change in order to recognise their common responsibilities to all stakeholders.

The ultimate aim of the unit is to equip students with practical and ethical knowledge in managing change process that are aligned with organisational mission and strategy, benchmarked against best national and international standards and practices. 

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Critically evaluate different frameworks, philosophies and theories for change management in organisations ensuring that business supports inclusive and sustainable growth and productive employment (GA4, GA5) 

LO2 - Analyse organisational and behavioural issues that affect change processes, ensuring that all individuals have the right to participate in processes that affect them and build the common good. (GA2, GA4) 

LO3 - Design change interventions and develop implementation and evaluation plans which address complex problems in a local or international context while addressing ethical, social, environmental and sustainability issues. (GA5, GA6) 

LO4 - Design effective communication strategies with all stakeholders which address change related issues. (GA5, GA9) 

Graduate attributes

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession

GA6 - solve problems in a variety of settings taking local and international perspectives into account

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include: 

• Perspectives on Change
• Factors (national and global) affecting organisational change
• Identifying the needs for change
• Planned directed and emergent change
• Decision Making and Uncertainty in Change
• Change models   
• Role of Leadership and structural complexities  
• Change, Power and politics  
• HR/People Management  
• Neuroscience and Change  
• Cultural and strategic Change
• Technological changes 
• Ethical, Social and Sustainability Issues 
• Implementing and evaluating change processes
• Organisational transformation 

Note: Those students conducting this unit as part of the Graduate Diploma or Master of OHSEM will be provided with content, examples and applications specific to this discipline.  

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Attendance Mode 

This Unit takes an active learning approach to guide students in the analysis and synthesis of knowledge associated with the diagnosis and resolution of complex change problems. Students are able to explore the knowledge base underpinning organisational change management in a series of on campus workshops. These workshops are designed to support students to actively participate in the construction and synthesis of this knowledge both individually and in groups. By participating in these workshops, students will systematically develop their understanding of the critical aspects of organisational change and how to design solutions to organisational change problems. This Unit takes an experiential approach to support students in developing the relational skills required to effectively manage organisational change management by tapping into the knowledge of other participants, sharing stories and insights and reflecting on experiences. This approach is designed to interest students who prefer to learn within a social environment and builds in expert support for skills development.  

Online mode  

This Unit takes an active learning approach to guide students in the analysis and synthesis of knowledge associated with the diagnosis and resolution of complex change problems. Students are able to explore the knowledge base underpinning organisational change management in a series of online interactive modules. Students take part in facilitated synchronous online classes designed to support them to actively participate in the construction and synthesis of this knowledge. By undertaking the individual activities and participating in these online classes, students will systematically develop their understanding of the critical aspects of organisational change and how to design solutions to organisational change problems. This Unit takes an experiential approach to support students in developing the relational skills required to effectively manage organisational change management by tapping into the knowledge of other participants, sharing stories and insights and reflecting on experiences. This approach provides flexibility and facilitates the participation of students who are unable to attend class. 

ACU Online

This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.

Assessment strategy and rationale

To pass this unit, students must demonstrate competence in all learning outcomes and achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50%. Marking will be in accordance with a rubric specifically developed to measure students’ level of achievement of the learning outcomes for each item of assessment. Students will be awarded a final grade which signifies their overall achievement in the unit.

The assessment strategy for this Unit allows students to sequentially develop their knowledge and skills in organisational change to the point where they can produce a change plan to resolve an organisational change problem in a real-world scenario. To develop this level of capability, students will demonstrate their knowledge of change theories in an essay, further develop their understanding of organisational change through a change problem diagnosis presentation and then apply their knowledge and understanding of the development, leadership, implementation and evaluation of change strategies through creation of a change plan in the final assessment task. The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome as indicated in the following Assessment Table. 

Those students conducting this unit as part of the Graduate Diploma or Master of OHSEM will be expected to complete assessments 2 and 3 with a focus on an OHSE change problem. 

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Blanco-Portela, N., Benayas, J., Pertierra, L.R. and Lozano, R. 2017. Towards the integration of sustainability in Higher Education Institutions: A review of drivers of and barriers to organisational change and their comparison against those found of companies Journal of Cleaner Production, 10 November, Vol.166, pp.563-578  

Burnes, B and Randall, J 2015. Perspectives on Change: What Academics, Consultants and Managers Really Think About Change (Routledge Studies in Organizational Change & Development). Routledge, New York.  

Cameron, E and Green, M, 2015. Making sense of change management: a complete guide to the models, tools and techniques of organizational change. 4th Edition Kogan Page Publishers.  

Georgalis, J, Samaratunge, R, Kimberley, N. and Lu, Y., 2015. Change process characteristics and resistance to organisational change: The role of employee perceptions of justice. Australian Journal of Management, 40(1), pp.89-113.  

Linacre, S and Linacre, S, 2016. When change is not as good as a rest. Human Resource Management International Digest, 24(4), pp.20-22.

Lowe, G., Plummer, V., & Boyd, L., 2018. Nurse practitioner integration: Qualitative experiences of the change management process. Journal of Nursing Management, 26(8), 992-1001.

Kirby, D., 2019. Changing the nature of organizational change. Strategic HR Review, 18(4),155-160

Kraft, A., Sparr, J., & Peus, C., 2018. Giving and Making Sense About Change: The Back and Forth Between Leaders and Employees. Journal of Business and Psychology, 33(1), 71-87.  

Nutt, K and Keville, S, 2016. ‘you kind of frantically go from one thing to the next and there isn’t any time for thinking anymore’: a reflection on the impact of organisational change on relatedness in multidisciplinary teams. Reflective Practice,17(2), pp.221-232.